Langdale's History

Langdale School was established in 1920 by Mrs. Gwendoline Tustin who recognised the need for extended holiday care for the children of the local Blackpool hoteliers and boarding house owners. With the help of her daughter, Mrs. Tustin ran the original school from Langdale House in Argyll Road, which is just a few streets away from the school’s current location. The holiday school proved to be so popular and successful that numbers increased to the point where larger accommodation was required, and the ladies moved to new premises at 95 Warbreck Drive in 1923, taking the Langdale name along with them. It soon became apparent that there was huge support for further extending the school’s operating hours and offering full-time schooling for those families who wished to opt out of the state education system. Thus the first ‘holiday club’ for primary-aged children in the North West, if not the first in the whole country, evolved into Langdale Independent Preparatory School.

Since that time, Langdale School has provided quality education to several generations of the original families who used the school way back in the 1920’s, and one of the great strengths of the school is its established presence within the local community as part of Blackpool’s living history. 

The school was extensively re-modelled during the 1990’s and now has the capacity to offer education for upwards of 90 children. It continues to maintain links, as it always has done, with the local parish church of St. Stephens on the Cliffs, and several of the traditions that were introduced by the original proprietors of the school, such as Prize Day and the annual Oratory Competition, have been maintained to this day.